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Rudolf IV of Austria was pretty much the sort of guy who would lie, cheat and steal his way to the top (which he pretty much did, since he invented the title of archduke to give him parity with the electors after he was denied an electorate; he set his capital of Vienna up as a rival to the imperial capital of Prague, managing to bluff his way into making Vienna the seat of an bishopric in all but name) etc.

He was married to Karl IV's daughter, Katharina, but when Rudolf went with his brother to Milan for said brother's wedding to Viridis Visconti, he caught the plague and died in 1366. He left no children, and his brothers fell to petty dynastic squabbles after his death.

So, what if Rudolf lived? Could he manage to claim his dearest wish, to be emperor, on the death of his father-in-law in 1378? How would Rudolf's survival change Habsburg fortunes?
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